Chapter 1 The Return

It was that time of the year again. The time of the year Marian hated the most – Christmas.

Away from her pack for almost a year after her self-imposed exile, she had returned to fulfill her duties as the only surviving child and sibling of her late mother and brother.

Goddess, how I hate this place, she mused as she strode toward the pack hall, her hips swaying as she walked purposefully toward the hall in her gold dress and strappy gold heels, all five feet eleven inches of her, as a light breeze pulled on her waist length dark brown hair and silk gown.

Marian had the lean, athletic build of a warrior she-wolf, and she moved like the alpha wolf that she was – long, determined strides, her green eyes fixed on her destination, her back and head straight and upright.

"Why do I have to come back here?"

"All these people...! This place...! It's exactly the same," Marian said haughtily, speaking to her wolf, Dinka, in their mind space.

At the beginning of this very year, Marian had been rejected by the current pack Alpha's adopted son and chosen heir to the pack, Dorien, at the New Year Moon party, in full view of the whole pack.

She could still hear the words now as she headed toward the large pack house.

"I, Dorien Aldon, reject you, Marian Storm, as my mate!"

With those words from him, her heart had felt like it was going to explode, and till today, she did not know how she had managed it, but she had fled from the same pack hall she was now striding toward.

She straightened her shoulders at the thought, pushing the memory back where it belonged – down and out of her mind – as she continued her approach.

"You know why," Dinka replied steadily as she watched the other wolves around, sniffing at some and keeping her distance from others.

"Yeah," Marian replied lazily.

Marian had left the pack compound after the rejection and would have stayed away permanently, if not for the memorial service she needed to attend for her mother and brother.

She sniffed the air, and her wolf, Dinka, purred.

Dinka had missed the pack life. Marian had not.

"Let's go to him!" Dinka urged in the mind space she shared with her human.

"Sure, D. Let's find him," Marina replied as she arrived at the hall where the pack's Christmas Eve ceremony was in full swing.

This was a party held every year, on Christmas Eve, to usher the pack into Christmas Day; fondly referred to as the mistletoe drop party by young wolves.

Christmas had always been a main celebration in her pack, and this had not changed after the war four years ago – the war in which she had lost her mother and younger brother.

The war in which she and her father, the erstwhile Alpha, had lost and were taken prisoner by the victor of the bloody battle – Dax Garrant, the current pack Alpha and a man Marcia had called uncle for most of her life, right up to that deadly fight.

The pack compound was a sight to behold.

Marian entered the hall and strolled around the grandly decorated room. Lights were everywhere, wonderful Christmas decorations adorned the ceiling and the walls, and there was more than enough food and drink going around.

Everyone was dressed in their finest wear.

Is that her?

Yeah!

Wow!

Don't look...

She seems...different...

Shh!

The words flitted through the air in the hall, and Marian knew they were talking or gossiping about her, but she did not care.

She was dressed in a gold gown her father had prepared for her. A dress that was both alluring and an official statement.

A statement that she was back and that she would not be cowed.

She did not notice the heads that turned or the eyes that stared. She was not here for them.

She glanced around the full hall, searching for her father.

To usher in the big day, this year's party was livelier than the last one. Various wolf clans had been invited, and even a few rogue wolves who dwelled around the perimeter of their pack lands were in attendance on this day.

There was chatting, laughing, and some side games going on in the hall.

Marian waded deeper into the room. Some wolves nodded to her, others gawked and whispered, and still others looked away, pretending not to have noticed her.

But Marian did not care for any of them, some had been allies of her father's during the war, others had been on Dax's side.

After the battle, some had been part of the group who had abused her, used her as a punching bag during training, or treated her lower than a slave – when her father was not near – or had been part of the group who looked away when she was being mistreated.

It did not matter now. Not anymore. After the rejection, after she had been allowed to leave, she had freed herself of this place and these people in ways they would never understand.

She was not their prisoner anymore, not in her heart or in her mind. She was only back for one reason, and once her duty was fulfilled, she would leave.

"Where is he..." Marian said irritably to Dinka as she glanced around.

There were too many smells in the room, and something was also interfering with her nasal cavity.

"It's almost time, they must have started releasing the gas," Dinka said in a low growl.

"Yeah, it should be time soon," Marian confirmed.

"I can't wait to get out of here," she continued, complaining to her wolf.

Marian had returned to the pack to attend the memorial service that was held every year, for the past three years, to commemorate the war she and her father had lost and Dax had won.

The whole pack attended. It was a grave day for everyone. Almost everyone in the pack had lost someone on that day. It was not a service for only her lost loved ones, it was for the pack's lost loved ones.

"Use the link," Dinka urged.

Marian did not respond.

Her green eyes narrowed as she spun around and waded deeper into the hall.

She did not want to be here, and she was not wanted here; most especially by Alpha Dax.

They shared a deep hatred that could never be mended. Not only had he, with his own hands, killed her family, he had taken the only family she had left, away from her.

And kept him at his side like a prize on permanent display.

She hated him, and Dax could not care less about her.